In the aftermath of World War II, Japan must rebuild its economy. Certain products become vital exports in the revitalization effort, including the wristwatch. Seiko leaps to the forefront of the recovery, but there's a problem: their watches aren't good. The company decides to bring R&D in-house to take advantage of constructive competition between its factories, and winds up going from industry failure to time-honored player on the world stage.
It's the late 1940s, and Japan is rebuilding its economy after World War two.
To make that happen, the government needs foreign currency, and so certain products have been earmarked as vital exports.
One of those products is wristwatches.
Government support is being pumped into the watch industry.
For example, a council is created to host a competition between manufacturers to see whose watches keep better time.
The goal is to raise standards and make the whole industry stronger.
One of the country's biggest watchmakers, Seiko, enters the competition feeling confident.
I think they submitted 130.
Some watches, 60 failed during the test.
They just stopped running.
David Flett is a writer at the watch website beyond the dial, as well as a vintage Seiko collector.
And, yeah, many of Seiko's watches were so unreliable, they actually stopped running while being tested.
And this really brought home to the Seiko management that they really needed to improve things.
But how are they going to do it?
How are they going to quickly turn the company around so they could play their part in Japan's much needed economic recovery?
As Japan's most prominent watchmaker, they needed to up their game.
If they stood any chance of selling their watches internationally, after all, they would have to go up against the heavy hitters of the watch world, the Swiss.
Seiko realized they could take inspiration from those japanese council watch trials, which pitted different companies against each other.
So that is when they set up the competition between the two factories.
That's right.